The Negative Consequences Of Civil Disobedience

What is civil disobedience? Civil disobedience is the opposing of a law one finds unjust by refusing to follow it and accepting the consequences. So many people have performed acts of civil disobedience from Martin Luther King Jr. to everyday people. But what people did as civil disobedience a hundred years ago is completely different today. It is such an important part of a free society because it helps to define what a free society is, shows the true meaning of freedom of speech, and shows the government that citizens are not willing to follow an unjust law without violence.

How does the social responsibility of intellectuals to demonstrate civil disobedience differ from Lincoln and MLK’s time and today as demonstrated by Black lives matter and Antifa

Civil disobedience plays an important and great role in the world. It is a major and effective part of many processes that combat injustice and immorality. In the past, it has helped countries gain independence, combatted racial segregation, affected countries’ involvement in wars and much more. People such as Parks and Gandhi have fought the immoral laws which led to thousands of millions of people having the opportunity to live a future without prejudice, discrimination and oppression because they held up their beliefs and demonstrated he importance of civil

In the United States Constitution we the people were given a right to freedom of speech. People have taken to this right given to us by the Founding Fathers. But, one problem rises to the top with a right that has so much freedom, civil disobedience. It’s a topic that we are seeing more of in our society today. Civil disobedience is a threat against our free society due to people not taking our laws serious enough.

Civil disobedience is the backbone of all free nations. The positive influences of this act are visible in every aspect of life. Civil disobedience is peacefully disobeying any law thought unjust while accepting all legal repercussions. Peaceful resistance instigates change, allows communication with the government, and gives nation’s citizens power.

The act of violating the laws and authority of the state is justified only when the measures taken by the state are contrary to the morals, ethics, and public opinion of the governed. On the occasion that truly “unjust” rule is forced upon a citizenry, violating that authority can be validated. The factors which contribute to an unjust governance are the states’ adherence to common morality, the power structure of the government, how closely it follows the public will, and the ethical consideration taken by the power. Civil disobedience, however, must be exercised cautiously and with extreme restraint, because if the private individual has the power to neglect the law due to personal interest, the society will deteriorate into chaos. Although Sophocles’ Antigone and Plato’s Crito do not exhibit a shared interpretation of when it is justified to disobey the state, considering both pieces will strengthen an understanding of when it is appropriate to practice a degree of law breaking.

The immense raw emotion of protesters grasping the nation’s attention is sensational in the sense of the people’s spoken word of how the government interprets their way of living. The fact that the people of the nation are allowed to have freedom of speech is phenomenal. Civil disobedience has already had an impact on the 21st century in the first two decades with the Ferguson riots to the riots across the nation for the 45th president's election to office. During all these riots of civil disobedience, none truly got to the point of their purpose to the public. These examples provide that civil disobedience has a negative impact on society due to lack of respect to the public's eye on the issue, peaceful protests can turn violent, and property damage for cities to handle afterward.

Civil Disobedience is defined as the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. To several governments and even some citizens, civil disobedience can be seen as a bad way of handling situations. To others, it is just a way of expressing how they feel about decisions the government make and it makes them feel as though they have a voice in how the decisions are mad. In the essay, “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau, there are several connections made to how the people should react to the government “controlling” them and what should be done about it. “Civil Disobedience” also makes connections to the article, Faced With a Fracking Giant, This Small Town Legalized Civil Disobedience. In both of these forms of writing, they discuss the main idea of civil disobedience and the impacts it may have on the government and the people as a whole.

Civil disobedience has been a topic of discussion for hundreds of years. Many of the people who participate, in this action, boycott or resist against the government, rules, and topics that are not just. Although people think that civil disobedience is ineffective because of the consequences it may have, other people think that it is very effective and have many benefits such as it gets results, makes the opponent look bad and there can be less death by the civil the disobedience.

I believe that peaceful resistance to laws can positively impact a free society. As long as someone is not harming another person or groups of people while refusing to follow certain laws then they should be able to carry on. Sometimes what this person is refusing may be wrong, but they are still entitled to their opinions and beliefs. A famous boxer, Muhammad Ali, once refused to participate in the military draft of 1960 for the Vietnam War. His argument was, "Why should me and other so-called 'negroes' go 10,000 miles away from home, here in America, to drop bombs and bullets on other innocent brown people who's never bothered us and I will say directly: No I will not go" (Mullen). He received so much hatred and criticism for his decision.

Civil disobedience by no means developed recently. Opposing the law in order to promote change goes back hundreds of years, and often became the backbone of positive social developments. However, similar to reactions to other types of protests, some groups believe civil disobedience holds no place in today’s society, or, for some, in any society, but, in doing so, ignore the vast number of positive effects these sorts of protests can glean, as far back as the start of America to living in today’s corporate world.

Thoreau cautions the reader of disobedience. There are many instances throughout history that disobedience with the intent of progression doesn’t occur because the new authority merely replaces, or it becomes worse than the oppressive former one, rather than improving upon it. Additionally, Thoreau advocates for resistance if it’s necessary or on moral grounds.

Civil disobedience is when someone opposes the law and peacefully disobeys it. In many cases peaceful resistance against certain laws have  positively impacted the movement of a free Society. Going against laws is still considered a crime whether it is done peacefully or not and as a result there are consequences. A few of the cases include Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. , Edward Snowden.

According to Barnes, Frank, and Driessen, civil society has to exist in order the right to protest should be effectively formed, a civil society of which is a substantial setup of civil organizations, is said to stimulate the strength and efficiency of democratic institutions through the effects of the civil organizations on the civilians' conduct, and the capacity of the civil institutions to rally the citizens on behalf of community reasons. Nonetheless, civil societies in Latin America and Eastern Europe are credited with effective opposition to dictatorial governments, democratizing the public from below, while forcing the autocratic nations for change. Therefore, civil society has been known to be the realm of private charitable organization, from local agencies and religious groups, to concerned groups and humanitarian institutions of all kinds. The civil society has come to be appreciated as an essential element in both democratization and the well-being of established governments.

Civil disobedience is tantamount to raising the red signal against democracy when the latter deviates from the right course in accordance with the views of exponents. It can be considered as a kind of opposition or rather a very advanced shape of political and social resistance. Civil disobedience is not a commonplace form of political opposition, not because it is a negative form of political resistance, but because it occurs very rarely. It can be regarded as the most sophisticated case of the embodiment of democracy. Therefore, it is difficult if not impossible to imagine a democracy without the freedom of opposition including the right of civil disobedience. Freedom of